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Political experts gathered Friday at the University of California, Berkeley to examine why the top-two primary system has failed to generate more voter interest. Mark Matthews reports. (Published Friday, Apr 25, 2014)

Political experts gathered Friday at the University of California, Berkeley to examine why the top-two primary system has failed to generate more voter interest.

The system was approved by voters in 2010, and places everyone who would race in the same primary. The top two vote getters of any party advancing to the general election in November.

It was expected the system would energize voters in primary elections and would increase competition and diminish polarization.

"And it's not happening, they're not participating in the primaries," said Stanford professor Bruce Cain, who was one of the experts at Friday's meeting. "They're waiting until the November election, but the point is this isn't going to work if they don't participate in the first round."